A Callous Compromise
by Scarlet to Nothing
Summary: A princess from a land far away from Albion's shores is forced to marry the new King of Albion, where she will undergo the trials of being a queen and the wife of an arrogant, evil hero.


Chapter I

Day I

Agni must have been mocking her. Not once in the past two weeks of her exhausting voyage to Albion had the sun god shown his vibrant waves of light to her. It was as if he had used the weather to continuously remind her of all the sorrow and despair in her heart, and it was so cruel of him, a supreme being that was above all living things, to act so humanly and hurt her in such a way that only a human could do. The skies above the sea were dark- could be possibly mistaken as night almost. The ocean waters mirrored the same hue as the realm above it. It was like the world had suddenly lost all of its color, replaced with blacks and musty grays. How painfully accurate it resembled her.

Princess Yue longed to see proof of life again. She had been cooped up in a ship's cabin for two weeks now and not once dared to leave its walls. It had been pathetic of her, really. Here she was, a proud member of the royal family, cowering in an Albion ship like some sort of stowaway! It was outrageous… it was shameful… The princess thought that she could feel safer alone and far from foreign crew and staff, but in truth, the time she spent by herself sulking had only furthered her grief. Yue felt like she was lost in a dark pit with the Yami-Momen, and there were no signs of freedom. She understood what caged birds felt like now, but at least, they were not getting married against their will.

About four weeks ago, her father had told that she would become the wife of the king of Albion.

Princess Yue did not know what hurt worse- the fact that she was getting married to a man other than General Chang, the only man she had ever loved, or how the Emperor did not even bother to tell her why. The words he had told her on that winter day still burned holes in her mind.

"You will set sail for Albion in a week. You will marry their king and become his queen. Do not embarrass your nation, Princess Yue. It is your duty to serve it, not drink its tea." Then, he left her room without another word with the leeches that were his advisors trailing uncomfortably close behind him.

And that was the end to that discussion. As the youngest and only daughter of the emperor, he had no use for her; she could not fight in the military, had no chance of becoming empress with four elder brothers, and because of her gender, was not allowed into government positions. Therefore, he had no reason whatsoever to ever associate his being with her. He had even forbid her from dining with him and her brothers and condemned her to eat in her own quarters alone. However, it seemed like now he had finally found a purpose for her.

She knew very little information about the king and Albion, only going on what the sailors and staff members had told her…which was close to nothing. The princess of Hirro was not at all fluent in the Albion language, and it seemed to be the greatest challenge for her to communicate with such a strong, Hirran accent. Every time she would try and exchange words with the captain or one of the pompous staff members, it would end in unidentifiable stutters on both their parts and awkward silences, followed by a period of humiliation and frustration on her part.

It was all to the Yami-Momen.

She had been torn from her family (for all she knew consisted of her elder brothers and uncle) and the only home she ever knew. True, Yue had never been allowed to be outside of the palace walls, but it did not matter. The life she had been born into was now gone- _disconnected_- and in the ridiculous time span of three weeks, her life had been reduced to ruins. Her Chang, her beloved, was supposed to be her husband, not this king of Albion. Her plans were to escape imperial palace and live happily married to the high-ranked general; however, those hopes and dreams were forever destroyed.

And to make matters worse, they tried to mold her into the perfect Albion woman too.

She missed the traditional, royal hanfu and kimonos she would wear. There was little tolerance for these tight, claustrophobic Albion clothing. They were so garish and frivolous; she was sure she looked like a sweet dumpling, an awkward, uncomfortable sweet dumpling. It was 'imperative' that she adorn herself in the respective attire for a proper Albion lady, the tailors said. It was imperative that she did not vomit on it because of its gaudiness.

Those idiots, she would rethink scornfully. Why would they send an Albion ship to bring me when it would have been easier for me to take a Hirran ship? How could the Emperor send me away to such fools!

To add to this idiocy, a group of young noblewomen had been on board the vessel.

They were just a bunch of privileged females, clothed in elegant finery and spoke in whiny voices. Back in Hirro, she suffered the company of a small posy of noblewomen that would come once or twice a week for a small tea party, where they would speak forced compliments and false interest in her, but Yue was no fool to see that they did not like her. And it would have been foolish of her to indulge in their oh-so-welcoming company for too long. That was why she would banish them from the country after a week or two and move on to a new group of young women, eager for her approval and favor.

But now- she was ashamed to admit it- but the young princess yearned for some of their Hirran company. She was very lonely. She had received no word from her family for what seemed like forever, and the hurt and betrayal she felt did not compare to her missing them. Her uncle had given her a heap of gifts and sweets to accompany her on her voyage, and though the sentiments warmed her heart and took up some of her time; it did little to ease her loneliness.

She missed Chang the most, though. She had not seen her love since she boarded the ship. He looked radiant as always that day- which was an unbelievable two weeks ago- but his beautiful brown eyes lacked the vivacity she always adored. Oh how it robbed him of his looks. She felt tears ball at the corners of her eyes as she thought of him and her heart started to ache as she recalled all her memories of their secret, loving glances and sweet smiles and all the I-Love-Yous they had shared.

It was the fact of the situation hurt the most: Yue was to be married to the king and be crowned queen of Albion. Queen of Albion of consort, she mentally scoffed. Such an undeserving title.

She was tired of crying. A princess does not cry. Yue was hurting, yes; it was a feeling that felt like it would never go away, and sadly, the only way she could express it was by crying in the corner of her cabin. If the damned dress would allow her, she would curl up into a sort of half-ball position. All of their moments, promising to be with each other as man and wife, were precious to her, even if they had not come true. She loved him so much, wanted him to be her first to many experiences, but now, Yue felt robbed and cheated. Some other man, a man probably way older than her, a man she knew nothing about, would take them.

Damn you, King of Albion, she thought loudly, I hate you!

They would likely be nearing Albion soon. They have been in sea for nearly two weeks now, and at some point they were bound to hit land. The feeling of dread weighs in and a stuffy feeling lies dormant in her chest. Once she entered Albion it would be the breaking point for her. It was no turning back from here.

Gods, give me strength.

**A/N- What a boring, useless chapter, I despise it. Writing about angst is so criminally boring. I know some people enjoy it (but they are 100% of the time professionals, so if you enjoy writing the genre, I salute you!), but I cannot understand why. But any-who, this is 1/3 of the original prompt I have already written, but I just went ahead and summited this because it's so depressing and just separate it from the rest.**

**Yep, so I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope to god that you are clawing your eyes out because of how unproductive it is. I'm not doing this for reviews- but mainly to destroy a nasty case of writer's block. However, a review would be nice- I do not mind what it is-(flames, criticism, and suggestions for where you want the story to go). Thank you again for taking the time to read this albeit I am sure no one reads ANs…I don't…**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Fable.., but if I did, I would make the characters less hideous and not socially awkward. *hint hint* LionHead…**


End file.
